MEGAMOUTH 28 WAS
CAUGHT IN THE NET of Sofronio Castañares [not Casañares
as reported earlier] in Macajalar Bay, Philippines, around 3 am on January
30, 2005. The fish dragged Castañares' paddle-driven banca
for about an hour, until it stopped, apparently exhausted.

Castañares
called another fisherman on a pumpboat to help him bring the fish to the
shore of barangay Gusa, near the estuary of Bigaan River and Villa Ernesto
Subdivision, Phase II.

Initial reports indicate
that Castañares sliced off the fins because he was upset that the
fish had
destroyed his net. Castañares hasn't been interviewed by this writer,
however.

Radio station Bombo
Radyo reported the find early morning. Officials from the Bureau of Fisheries
and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), City Agriculture Office (CAO) and several
journalists came and made documentation. The shark was already heavily
mutilated; its gender could not be determined.

BFAR and CAO officials decided to bury the fish at the bank of the estuary,
following Fisheries Administrative Order 208, which provides that the
carcass of an endangered marine animal should be buried after documentation.

BFAR and CAO officials,
however, agreed with this writer, who suggested that the animal be dissected
first to find eggs or embryos -- if it was female -- which could be preserved
for scientific study. A butcher performed the dissection, with barangay
councilor Prospero Abrio present as witness.